All You Need Are 2 Simple Ingredients To Recreate Jell-O's Iconic Discontinued Pudding Pops

If there's one ice cream treat '80s kids remember, it's the nostalgic pudding pop. Creamy, fudgy, and unbelievably delicious, this style of popsicle was basically soft serve on a stick. Most Gen Xers and millennials remember having at least one box of them in the freezer at all times — at least, up until the 1990s when they disappeared from grocery store shelves forever. The good news, however, is that this childhood treat is among the easiest to make at home.

All you need is a packet of instant Jell-O pudding mix, cold milk, and a popsicle mold. Just make the pudding according to package instructions, pop it (pun intended) into the silicone popsicle mold of your choice, and freeze for several hours until they're that perfect firm-yet-creamy consistency we all remember. If you try to tug the pudding pops free of the mold and the stick starts to release along with some loose pudding, they need to freeze for a little while longer. It's also best to use a silicone mold rather than a hard plastic one since it can be more difficult to release them from the hard molds.

You can make this recipe even simpler and more kid-friendly by swapping the instant Jell-O mix for premade pudding cups from the same brand since it's pretty much the same consistency. Just fill the popsicle molds from the cups and freeze. You can even mix and match flavors for a fun, customizable take on the original.

Jell-O produces a wide variety of instant pudding flavors, so if chocolate isn't your jam, you have a ton of other interesting options. For instance, if you're celebrating the onset of fall but the weather's still a touch warm, you could throw together some pumpkin spice pudding pops. You could also put together a fun Halloween-themed treat with candy corn-style popsicles made from pumpkin spice, white chocolate, and banana instant pudding flavors to mimic the orange, white, and yellow coloration of this traditional spooky-season treat.

The same goes for pretty much any other holiday, especially since a touch of gel food coloring is the perfect way to turn vanilla, cheesecake, or white chocolate instant pudding any color you like to achieve the right palette for Christmas or Independence Day. Think red-dyed white chocolate and pistachio, or swirls of red and blue-dyed cheesecake with a layer of vanilla in between. You could even go all-out in June by creating various colorful Pride flags using carefully placed layers of dyed coconut cream pudding.

Even if themes aren't your thing, the sky's the limit when it comes to creating your new favorite pudding pop flavor. After all, frozen banana pudding is one of the best desserts ever, especially if you lightly combine it with chocolate fudge pudding before adding it to the molds. You might even discover a new favorite combination, such as butterscotch and French vanilla, or cookies and cream with lemon.